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The best new waterfront restaurant in Sarasota and Bradenton is this place serving amazing Italian cuisine.

Wade Tatangelo

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

We’re approximately a dozen miles east of Sarasota’s best waterfront restaurants and significantly farther from my favorite dining spots along Bradenton Riverwalk, or the renowned eateries by the famously beautiful beaches of Siesta Key, Venice and Anna Maria Island.

There are no natural beaches nearby, and I suspect that many of the ponds and lakes are man-made, but we are situated beside a substantial body of water. And while I’m more accustomed to searching for lazily floating manatees or frolicking dolphins, I’ve come to the edge of the elevated patio to gaze down over the rail at a swiftly moving alligator, which appears large enough to view me as a potential snack.

Such are the sights on the shores of Kingfisher Lake in the upscale new Waterside Place neighborhood of Lakewood Ranch. Waterside Place is where Old Florida meets New Florida, where ancient reptile predators swim in waters surrounded by bougie condos, shops, and restaurants. It’s also where you will find one of the best new restaurants to open this year in Sarasota or Manatee counties.

New restaurant Osteria 500 is in Lakewood Ranch’s bougie new waterfront neighborhood Waterside Place

I spotted the alligator during a recent weekday dinner at Osteria 500, following an equally rewarding lunchtime visit a few days prior. The restaurant is the newest addition to Waterside Place, a brand-new neighborhood that is already home to dining and drinking establishments such as Kore Steakhouse, Good Liquid Brewing Co., and Forked. Additionally, a Deep Lagoon Seafood and Oyster House location as well as the Mexican-American restaurant Agave Bandido are set to open there. Yes, I will be returning to Waterside Place.

Osteria 500 opened this summer with plenty of well-deserved hype. Its proprietors include Giuseppe Del Sole, who also owns Napulè, the acclaimed Italian restaurant on South Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, which earned a coveted Golden Spoon award from Florida Trend magazine. I arrived at Osteria 500 for the first time on a recent Saturday afternoon with high hopes.

You enter Osteria 500 from Waterside Place’s main Lakefront Drive and are immediately enveloped by the cozy ambiance of brick and wood, complete with a long bar and mezzanine seating above. Follow the hostess to the covered patio seating overlooking Kingfisher Lake, as I did recently, and make sure to first pause and gaze at the gelato stand, the pastry display case, and the open kitchen featuring a wood-burning oven built atop a Fiat 500. Once outside, you’ll see the lake, hear its fountain, and notice Osteria 500’s outdoor bar, which is constructed from a vintage truck painted powder blue and adorned with marquee lights that spell out the venue’s name.

While the Disney World-esque Waterside Place is not exactly where you would expect to find one of the region’s most authentic Italian restaurants, that’s precisely what you get at Osteria 500. For instance, on Saturday, our Italian server presented us with the Italian water we ordered before guiding us to a couple of Italian beers as we perused the menu of Italian dishes (written in Italian with English descriptions). The restaurant also boasts an impressive Italian wine list and a cocktail menu featuring various Italian liquors and liqueurs. Even the background music featured Italian singers, and not just the usual Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin recordings; these singers were performing in Italian, albeit often delivering covers of classic American pop tunes.